Attacks on Shiite Sacred Sites

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 2 2004: Suicide bombers and other attackers detonated
mortars, grenades and roadside bombs on Tuesday among crowds of Shiite
Muslims gathered for one of the holiest occasions in the Shiite
calendar.

Within a few hours, the death toll was at 143; counts made in the
evening put it as high as 170. Some of the dead were reportedly pilgrims
from Iran.

It was the deadliest day in the 11 months since American troops toppled
Saddam Hussein's Sunni Muslim-dominated government. Both attacks began
around 10 a.m., at mosques in Baghdad and Karbala, a Shiite holy city
some 70 miles southwest of the capital.

The prediction was set for a period beginning a half-hour before the
bombings began, and continuing for several hours after, from 9:30 to
13:30 local (6:30 to 10:30 GMT). The result shows Chisquare 14512 on
14400 df, and p = 0.255.